1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope system including an imaging apparatus that can output an electrical signal after photoelectric conversion, as image information, from pixels arbitrarily designated as a reading object among a plurality of pixels for imaging.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, endoscope systems have been used to observe an organ of a subject such as a patient in medical fields. The endoscope system includes an insertion unit that has flexibility and an elongated shape, for example and is configured to be inserted into a body cavity of a subject, an imaging apparatus that is provided at a distal end of the insertion unit and is configured to capture an in-vivo image, and a display unit that can display the in-vivo image captured by the imaging apparatus. In order to acquire the in-vivo image by using the endoscope system, the insertion unit is inserted into the body cavity of the subject, and after that, living tissue in the body cavity is irradiated with irradiation light from the distal end of the insertion unit, and the imaging apparatus captures the in-vivo image. A user such as a doctor observes an organ of the subject based on the in-vivo image displayed on the display unit.
When imaging elements are incorporated into an imaging apparatus of the endoscope system for shipment, there is a need to correct pixel defect or characteristics of the imaging elements for shipment in order to correct variations inherent in the imaging elements. Correction information on contents performed in the correction is recorded in a management server or the like in association with identification information of the imaging elements.
As a technique of performing correction of imaging elements, disclosed is a technique where a chip integrated with recording elements where correction information is recorded and a chip integrated with imaging elements are installed in one package (refer to, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-208926). In this technique, the chip integrated with the recording elements where the correction information is recorded is installed in one package, and thus, the correction information is acquired from the recording elements at the time of correcting the imaging elements, so that the correction of the imaging elements is performed.